28:15 For you say,
“We have made a treaty with death,
with Sheol 1 we have made an agreement. 2
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by 3
it will not reach us.
For we have made a lie our refuge,
we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 4
33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, 5
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead, 6
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish 7 deceiving, others will deceive you!
1 sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.
2 tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.
3 tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).
4 sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.
5 tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”
sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.
6 tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.
7 tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”